Texts by Françoise d’Eaubonne

Paris, Le Passager Clandestin, preface Geneviève Pruvost, 349 pages.

Building upon the publication of Feminism or Death (1974) and her scholarly research in Women before Patriarchy (1976), Françoise d’Eaubonne provides a more complex elaboration of her vision of ecofeminism in this work.

In opposition to reformist feminism, which she describes as “mom’s feminism,” but also Marxist feminism, d’Eaubonne adds two dimensions to her analysis of the exploitation of nature and countries in the Global South: in her view, liberating oneself as a woman to the detriment of the planet and through the labor and exploitation of the most vulnerable is not really a true form of liberation. For how can it be forgotten that at the other end of the supply chain there are women bent over in fields on the other side of the world? (Geneviève Pruvost, 2022)

Paris, Éditions Cambourakis, preface Isabelle Cambourakis, 268 pages.

Published in 1978 in a feminist publishing house, the book brings together various writings and poems by d’Eaubonne written from 1975 in response to certain events, including the death in prison of Rote Armee Fraktion (RAF) activist Ulrike Meinhof in May 1976 and that of four of her comrades in October 1977. Some of these texts were written on the spot, some were reworked several times before publication.. Reading this book raises the question of the evolutions and adjustments of d’Eaubonne’s commitment over time. (Isabelle Cambourakis, 2022)

“This book is an urgent reflection on Power and Violence. Françoise d’Eaubonne has a unique way of shooting red-hot at those who, imprisoning all thought, conflate Counter-violence with Violence. Brilliantly dismantling the hypocrisy of our society: “Non-violence is the tribute that a violent world pays to the idea of a society without violence”! Continuing her reflection, she attacks the source: power. It points to the need to destroy IT and take back OUR power, the power that everyone can exercise without limit.

Finally, she hits the bull’s eye with her final thrust, when she throws in the future: one day it will be the “Mutiny of women against the Society of Power ».” (Manon Soavi)